When I was younger, I didn't think much about this. Living in Singapore is normal to me.
Like everyone else living there. Life is just normal.
However, as I've travelled. My perspectives changed a lot.
You see... Singapore is just a city.
It really is very very small for a country.
Look at all the other cities. New York, San Francisco, Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Detroit, Manila, Munich, the list keeps going.
Typically, there are so many cities within a country.
Imagine Singapore as just one of these cities. When the other countries have hundreds if not thousands of other cities that make up a country.
When you take a train out of Tokyo to Osaka... that's to another city within Japan.
When you drive a car 50 kilometers north, from Singapore, you end up in JB.
Houston is around the size of Singapore. The Mayor of Houston is the elected leader for the city...
Imagine... this is someone who has similar responsibilities to the Prime Minister in Singapore.
The Governor of Texas takes care of a State 943x the size of Singapore, with over 900 cities, each with a Mayor. Yes some cities are smaller some are larger.
Let's not even talk about the President of the US.
When a city has a downturn, like Detroit, where manufacturing has decreased, it's pretty much ok for the other cities within Michigan State, hardly affects other States and barely any impact on US as a country.
Compare that to Singapore...
There is only one Singapore. One small city.
No water, no resources, nothing.
One screw up. We're pretty much gone.
If we become irrelevant in the world... That's probably the end of Singapore.
We are in a risky position.
A lot of us don't think much about this. Well cos... life goes on. Daily life just goes on so nothing much to think about.
But when I experienced the sheer size of the places I've been to. Driving hours from one city to the next...
No... I, may think Singapore is pretty great. Cos it is our home.
But, it really is nothing compared to the scale of the rest of the world.
As much as many people don't know that there is a Singapore town in the State of Michigan, I'm not surprised that many people in the world do not know of Singapore as a country.
Are they really ignorant? Or are we just irrelevant to them?
How much do people in Asia know about Ohio State? Or Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France?
As much as many people don't know much about the cities in these States, Western people also won't know of or hear of a small city country such as Singapore, unless they are from certain industries.
People living in big countries really don't need to care about knowledge about other countries. Cos they already have enough to learn about their own country.
People in France can learn about Paris, then learn more about other cities and States within France, or they learn about their neighbouring countries, like Germany, or Switzerland.
Whereas for Singapore, we learn about Singapore about our own history, then... well... that's it. So it's natural for us to travel a bit to learn about Malaysia, Indonesia, our own neighbouring countries.
The area around Singapore, obviously know about Singapore, cos we are a powerhouse in the area.
But as we go out further, towards Europe, US... less and less people know about us.
So how vulnerable are we?
Damn vulnerable. No other country cares about us. We have no demand, just a mere 6 million people. Hardly worth setting up an office to sell products to the people of Singapore.
We had to "create" our own water. Before we only had reservoirs, but now, we have desalination and NEWater.
We don't have our own food. We still rely a lot on Malaysia and other countries to supply us with food.
We don't have oil. Where are we going to get electricity from? We don't have large empty areas to set up solar panels or wind turbines.
Can you imagine, how or why Singapore was able to get so many vaccines? When other countries like Korea or Japan have such low vaccination rates? I suspect Singapore has lots of connections AND paid a lot of money to obtain the vaccines before other countries.
Can you imagine if we didn't have the money and/or connections? That's what's happening in the poorer countries.
The thing is, I've come to realize that Singapore is very fragile.
And I think... through the years, I have taken it for granted. And I didn't care to contemplate about how fragile it is. And I also think a lot of the younger folk also don't realize the progress that Singapore has gone through.
And I think we were lucky. Singapore started out along with many of our neighbours within an era when many other countries were shaking off their colonial pasts. Most of Asia were on a relatively even playing field.
LKY made the right decision for Singapore to be an international country with English as a common language with lots of foreign investment.
Now, every country is an international country.
If Malaysia gets it's act together, it could easily crush Singapore into irrelevance.
As much as I have a renewed respect and appreciation of what our past leaders did for Singapore... I also feel a sense of concern for our future.
Well... we really have to see what our current and next generation of Singapore can do to push Singapore forward.
It's not going to be easy, and it may even be harder than when we first started.
Cos when we first started, the competition wasn't that strong, the issues Singapore faced were of a different nature.
But now, the competition is fierce. Even IF the elected leaders make the best decisions. We might not be able to out beat the competition.
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Like everyone else living there. Life is just normal.
However, as I've travelled. My perspectives changed a lot.
You see... Singapore is just a city.
It really is very very small for a country.
Look at all the other cities. New York, San Francisco, Paris, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Detroit, Manila, Munich, the list keeps going.
Typically, there are so many cities within a country.
Imagine Singapore as just one of these cities. When the other countries have hundreds if not thousands of other cities that make up a country.
When you take a train out of Tokyo to Osaka... that's to another city within Japan.
When you drive a car 50 kilometers north, from Singapore, you end up in JB.
Houston is around the size of Singapore. The Mayor of Houston is the elected leader for the city...
Imagine... this is someone who has similar responsibilities to the Prime Minister in Singapore.
The Governor of Texas takes care of a State 943x the size of Singapore, with over 900 cities, each with a Mayor. Yes some cities are smaller some are larger.
Let's not even talk about the President of the US.
When a city has a downturn, like Detroit, where manufacturing has decreased, it's pretty much ok for the other cities within Michigan State, hardly affects other States and barely any impact on US as a country.
Compare that to Singapore...
There is only one Singapore. One small city.
No water, no resources, nothing.
One screw up. We're pretty much gone.
If we become irrelevant in the world... That's probably the end of Singapore.
We are in a risky position.
A lot of us don't think much about this. Well cos... life goes on. Daily life just goes on so nothing much to think about.
But when I experienced the sheer size of the places I've been to. Driving hours from one city to the next...
No... I, may think Singapore is pretty great. Cos it is our home.
But, it really is nothing compared to the scale of the rest of the world.
As much as many people don't know that there is a Singapore town in the State of Michigan, I'm not surprised that many people in the world do not know of Singapore as a country.
Are they really ignorant? Or are we just irrelevant to them?
How much do people in Asia know about Ohio State? Or Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France?
As much as many people don't know much about the cities in these States, Western people also won't know of or hear of a small city country such as Singapore, unless they are from certain industries.
People living in big countries really don't need to care about knowledge about other countries. Cos they already have enough to learn about their own country.
People in France can learn about Paris, then learn more about other cities and States within France, or they learn about their neighbouring countries, like Germany, or Switzerland.
Whereas for Singapore, we learn about Singapore about our own history, then... well... that's it. So it's natural for us to travel a bit to learn about Malaysia, Indonesia, our own neighbouring countries.
The area around Singapore, obviously know about Singapore, cos we are a powerhouse in the area.
But as we go out further, towards Europe, US... less and less people know about us.
So how vulnerable are we?
Damn vulnerable. No other country cares about us. We have no demand, just a mere 6 million people. Hardly worth setting up an office to sell products to the people of Singapore.
We had to "create" our own water. Before we only had reservoirs, but now, we have desalination and NEWater.
We don't have our own food. We still rely a lot on Malaysia and other countries to supply us with food.
We don't have oil. Where are we going to get electricity from? We don't have large empty areas to set up solar panels or wind turbines.
Can you imagine, how or why Singapore was able to get so many vaccines? When other countries like Korea or Japan have such low vaccination rates? I suspect Singapore has lots of connections AND paid a lot of money to obtain the vaccines before other countries.
Can you imagine if we didn't have the money and/or connections? That's what's happening in the poorer countries.
The thing is, I've come to realize that Singapore is very fragile.
And I think... through the years, I have taken it for granted. And I didn't care to contemplate about how fragile it is. And I also think a lot of the younger folk also don't realize the progress that Singapore has gone through.
And I think we were lucky. Singapore started out along with many of our neighbours within an era when many other countries were shaking off their colonial pasts. Most of Asia were on a relatively even playing field.
LKY made the right decision for Singapore to be an international country with English as a common language with lots of foreign investment.
Now, every country is an international country.
If Malaysia gets it's act together, it could easily crush Singapore into irrelevance.
As much as I have a renewed respect and appreciation of what our past leaders did for Singapore... I also feel a sense of concern for our future.
Well... we really have to see what our current and next generation of Singapore can do to push Singapore forward.
It's not going to be easy, and it may even be harder than when we first started.
Cos when we first started, the competition wasn't that strong, the issues Singapore faced were of a different nature.
But now, the competition is fierce. Even IF the elected leaders make the best decisions. We might not be able to out beat the competition.
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
Did you like this post? If so, could you "belanjah" me 1/4 cup of my morning coffee pls.
You may also consider subscribing to receive the articles in your email, link in the column on the right.
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